February 27, 2020 at 5:48 p.m.
Making progress
Construction work at JCHS building is on track for consolidation as junior-senior high in the fall
Making progress
Some of the work is complete.
Some is in progress.
Some has yet to begin.
Everything is on track.
Visitors to Jay County High School, which will become Jay County Junior-Senior High School when seventh and eighth graders shift to the building this fall, have gotten their most visible look at construction recently as a portion of the hallway on the southeast side of the gym has been shut down.
That temporary wall is helping to eliminate noise and dust from the remodeling of restrooms and the girls locker room, part of a multi-million dollar renovation project headed by Muhlenkamp Building Corporation, Coldwater, Ohio, ahead of Jay Schools’ latest round of building consolidation.
“Smooth,” said superintendent Jeremy Gulley while discussing the project thus far. “Muhlenkamps have been great. It’s always good to get local work in your schools. …
“We’re on schedule and on estimate so far throughout.”
The work began in August and is currently in various stages.
Complete
While there are still months of construction remaining, some of the aspects of the work at the high school building are already finished.
No. 1 on that list is the new locker rooms on the southwest end of the auxiliary gym. Those have been turned over and are already in use, with the high school girls moving to that space while their locker room is being remodeled. The new auxiliary gym locker rooms will be used by junior high students next year.
The other aspect that is mostly finished is the remodeling of sections of the IMC and surrounding classrooms to accommodate the seventh and eighth grade students. Some of the classrooms that were in the area have been split into two, new motion-sensor lighting has been installed and new carpet is in place.
With the building already opened up for construction, a new fire alarm system has also been installed throughout.
“We tried to say, ‘What can we do that we know it’s a good time to get it in there?’” said Gulley.
The work that remains in the area is minor, including some new in hallway areas and some patched carpet, new paint and the installation of lockers.
In progress
“Now they’re working on a couple miscellaneous classrooms,” said JCHS principal Chad Dodd. “They’re working on (the girls locker rooms).”
That’s where construction stands now.
While there are minor details to be completed in what will be the junior high classroom area, the focus has turned to the girls locker room, the former planetarium and a handful of other rooms.
The girls locker room work is the most significant on the list. It has been in discussion since 2016 when members of girls athletic teams raised the issue that the boys locker room had been remodeled years earlier while theirs was still original to the building that opened in 1975.
“They’re going to remodel the girls locker room to replicate what the boys have,” said Dodd. “It’s going to be really, really close.”
Currently, the girls locker room and the adjacent men’s and women’s restrooms are gutted. The restrooms will each lose some space to allow for the locker rooms to be expanded, and a door will be added on the southeast corner of the gym.
The other work that is in progress involves a handful of classrooms, including the former planetarium. School officials looked at what that cost would be to bring the planetarium back into service — estimates came in at about $100,000 — and ultimately decided that the space that has been mostly unused in recent years would be better served as a classroom.
“It’s moving along. Really, the project has stayed pretty much on schedule,” said Dodd. “There was a time when we had some heating and air issues getting the main units in and it backed us up a couple weeks, but a project this size we’re not two or three weeks behind schedule, which is unusual.”
Yet to come
The only work that has yet to begin at JCHS involves constructing classrooms for Jay Schools’ new Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC), extending the parking lot at the front of the school to allow for more efficient flow of bus traffic and adding a concrete walkway to allow another drop-off point for junior high students.
Work on the classrooms for JROTC — the program will be new to Jay Schools in the fall — is expected to begin in April in the area that is currently used for archery shooting.
Gulley said he expects the parking lot project to go out for bids in April.
In addition to the construction at JCHS, there is work to come at some of the elementary schools this summer. (Remodeling at others was already completed before the current school year.)
Muhlenkamp will handle upgrades at East Jay Middle School, which will become East Jay Elementary School, and Bloomfield Elementary. The work at East Jay primarily involves the construction of a new playground in the area that has been the north half of the football field and the addition of new cabinetry. At Bloomfield, part of the library will become a new classroom.
Work at West Jay Middle School will include moving the offices and adding a restroom. It will start this summer, with a full year available to complete. Westlawn Elementary School students will then move into the building for the 2021-22 school year.
And there will be some minor changes, such as doors to separate the wings of the building, at General Shanks Elementary, which will become home to administrative offices, preschool and some alternative programming. (Special education and preschool will move to the building in the fall, with administrative offices to follow a year later.)
••••••••••
Construction at what will be the junior-senior high school will continue into the summer.
The substantial completion date for the crew led by Muhlenkamp is June 26. The goal date to have the extension to the parking lot at the front of the school complete is Aug. 1, if the project is awarded.
Much of the work will be finished before those dates, with events planned to invite the public to see the updated building.
That includes an open house for parents of 2020-21 junior high students May 13, with an orientation session for students the following day.
Some is in progress.
Some has yet to begin.
Everything is on track.
Visitors to Jay County High School, which will become Jay County Junior-Senior High School when seventh and eighth graders shift to the building this fall, have gotten their most visible look at construction recently as a portion of the hallway on the southeast side of the gym has been shut down.
That temporary wall is helping to eliminate noise and dust from the remodeling of restrooms and the girls locker room, part of a multi-million dollar renovation project headed by Muhlenkamp Building Corporation, Coldwater, Ohio, ahead of Jay Schools’ latest round of building consolidation.
“Smooth,” said superintendent Jeremy Gulley while discussing the project thus far. “Muhlenkamps have been great. It’s always good to get local work in your schools. …
“We’re on schedule and on estimate so far throughout.”
The work began in August and is currently in various stages.
Complete
While there are still months of construction remaining, some of the aspects of the work at the high school building are already finished.
No. 1 on that list is the new locker rooms on the southwest end of the auxiliary gym. Those have been turned over and are already in use, with the high school girls moving to that space while their locker room is being remodeled. The new auxiliary gym locker rooms will be used by junior high students next year.
The other aspect that is mostly finished is the remodeling of sections of the IMC and surrounding classrooms to accommodate the seventh and eighth grade students. Some of the classrooms that were in the area have been split into two, new motion-sensor lighting has been installed and new carpet is in place.
With the building already opened up for construction, a new fire alarm system has also been installed throughout.
“We tried to say, ‘What can we do that we know it’s a good time to get it in there?’” said Gulley.
The work that remains in the area is minor, including some new in hallway areas and some patched carpet, new paint and the installation of lockers.
In progress
“Now they’re working on a couple miscellaneous classrooms,” said JCHS principal Chad Dodd. “They’re working on (the girls locker rooms).”
That’s where construction stands now.
While there are minor details to be completed in what will be the junior high classroom area, the focus has turned to the girls locker room, the former planetarium and a handful of other rooms.
The girls locker room work is the most significant on the list. It has been in discussion since 2016 when members of girls athletic teams raised the issue that the boys locker room had been remodeled years earlier while theirs was still original to the building that opened in 1975.
“They’re going to remodel the girls locker room to replicate what the boys have,” said Dodd. “It’s going to be really, really close.”
Currently, the girls locker room and the adjacent men’s and women’s restrooms are gutted. The restrooms will each lose some space to allow for the locker rooms to be expanded, and a door will be added on the southeast corner of the gym.
The other work that is in progress involves a handful of classrooms, including the former planetarium. School officials looked at what that cost would be to bring the planetarium back into service — estimates came in at about $100,000 — and ultimately decided that the space that has been mostly unused in recent years would be better served as a classroom.
“It’s moving along. Really, the project has stayed pretty much on schedule,” said Dodd. “There was a time when we had some heating and air issues getting the main units in and it backed us up a couple weeks, but a project this size we’re not two or three weeks behind schedule, which is unusual.”
Yet to come
The only work that has yet to begin at JCHS involves constructing classrooms for Jay Schools’ new Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC), extending the parking lot at the front of the school to allow for more efficient flow of bus traffic and adding a concrete walkway to allow another drop-off point for junior high students.
Work on the classrooms for JROTC — the program will be new to Jay Schools in the fall — is expected to begin in April in the area that is currently used for archery shooting.
Gulley said he expects the parking lot project to go out for bids in April.
In addition to the construction at JCHS, there is work to come at some of the elementary schools this summer. (Remodeling at others was already completed before the current school year.)
Muhlenkamp will handle upgrades at East Jay Middle School, which will become East Jay Elementary School, and Bloomfield Elementary. The work at East Jay primarily involves the construction of a new playground in the area that has been the north half of the football field and the addition of new cabinetry. At Bloomfield, part of the library will become a new classroom.
Work at West Jay Middle School will include moving the offices and adding a restroom. It will start this summer, with a full year available to complete. Westlawn Elementary School students will then move into the building for the 2021-22 school year.
And there will be some minor changes, such as doors to separate the wings of the building, at General Shanks Elementary, which will become home to administrative offices, preschool and some alternative programming. (Special education and preschool will move to the building in the fall, with administrative offices to follow a year later.)
••••••••••
Construction at what will be the junior-senior high school will continue into the summer.
The substantial completion date for the crew led by Muhlenkamp is June 26. The goal date to have the extension to the parking lot at the front of the school complete is Aug. 1, if the project is awarded.
Much of the work will be finished before those dates, with events planned to invite the public to see the updated building.
That includes an open house for parents of 2020-21 junior high students May 13, with an orientation session for students the following day.
Top Stories
9/11 NEVER FORGET Mobile Exhibit
Chartwells marketing
September 17, 2024 7:36 a.m.
Events
250 X 250 AD